A set top appliance is a device that has the capability to play audio and video content. Set top appliances typically keep a journal of billable and non-billable activities that is frequently transmitted to a central database at a server computer. Billable activities that occur on a set top appliance often require secured transactions. Typically, the journal of activities is stored locally to the hard drive of the set top appliance. However, most set top appliances are unsecured environments that are accessible by a system user. As a result, a user of a set top appliance may readily access the journal of billable activities in order to alter the journal, thus potentially defrauding the service provided by the server.